A tasty summer salad that’s throw-together simple

By Joe Yonan The Washington Post

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Saturday, July 7, 2018 9:19 PM

Israeli Couscous Salad With Chickpeas and Herbs.

Sometimes, I’m up for anything in the kitchen: ready to experiment, excited by recipes that require multiple processes. Most weeknights, though, my pressing question is: What can I throw together quickly - I mean, immediately – that will still taste good? And as the days and nights get warmer, my desire for effortlessness increases.

That’s why I love a recipe that says, in essence, “Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.” The work is in the choosing, and maybe a little chopping, and then it’s dress, toss, eat. That’s what I did with my interpretation of a recipe in Maria Koutsogiannis’s new book, Mindful Vegan Meals (Page Street Publishing, 2018). It’s a salad built on Israeli (a.k.a. pearled) couscous, chickpeas and herbs, with a little fruit tossed in and a simple olive oil/lemon juice dressing. And it’s crazy flexible. I wanted more chickpeas, so I put in more chickpeas. I wanted walnuts for crunch: done. I love lemon, so I squeezed in the juice of a second one. It’s not the season for pomegranate seeds, so I chopped up some dried apricots. The end result was filling and light at the same time, and it has made for excellent brown-bag lunches.

The next time I make it – and it will be soon, trust me – the salad will no doubt be different: I’ll try fresh cherries, apricots or even blueberries from the farmers market. Koutsogiannis calls it “your next go-to salad recipe.” I call it my new back-pocket timesaver.